He says employing an SMA means that no matter what happens in the marketplace, companies understand that “when they produce a product it’s going to cost them no more than, for an example, 10 per cent to fund the sales and merchandising that’s required for their product throughout the whole country.”

Mr Kitson says companies rely on SMAs primarily to do the job that a lot of companies do themselves, and it’s paying off.

“SMAs represent quite a large chunk of the grocery industry. Approximately 11 per cent or $1.3 billion of retail sales are done through SMAs.

“The companies that SMAs represent are responsible for, or are the growth engine for, industry growth in the grocery market in New Zealand right now.”

“The other opportunity for manufacturers is to work with SMAs from a trade marketing perspective, where we both utilise account management and marketing skills of those employed in those businesses to best look for plans to activate sales both at store level and at account management level.”